Corruption Trial Continues For Massachusetts’ Former Top Probation Officials

The Federal corruption trial continues this week for John O’Brien, the former Massachusetts Probation Commissioner and two deputy commissioners. Yesterday, in court, a supervisor testified that before he conducted job interviews, he was given names by higher ups and then told they needed to be finalists for the jobs because commissioner O’Brien had an interest in them. Shira Shoenberg, a reporter for The Springfield Republican and Masslive.com has been covering the trial. She says defense lawyers are arguing that the political patronage at the probation department is typical in state politics.